PUISEUX
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PUISEUX
of Hexham and Newcastle: Newcastle-on-Tyne,
Stockton-on-Tees.
To the above may be added churches or chapels at Barnstaple, Blairgowrie (Perthshire), Douai, Fulham, Gorey (Wexford), Guernsey; Kensington (London, Carmelite Church), Manchester (St. Wilfrid's), Par- sonstown, Pontefract (Jesus Chapel), Salisbury, Stratford, Tagoat (Wexford), Waterford, Woolwich, a chapel for Sir William Stuart, and the high altar. Farm Street (London). Convents: — Alton, Bermond- Bey, Birmingham, Chcadle, Edge Hill, Gorey, Notting- ham, Parsonstown, Stoke-upon-Trent, Tagoat. Mon- asteries: — Downside, Mount St. Bernard's (Leicester- shire). Colleges: — RIount St. Mary's, Ratcliffe,LTshaw (additions), St. Edmund's, Ware (church), Oscott, (chapel completed), Maynooth (additions), Ushaw (church and refectory). Domestic Buildings: — Adare (seat of Lord Dunraven), Alton Castle (rebuilding), Alton Towers (completion), Bilton Grange (near Rugby), Chirk Castle (restoration), Grace-Dieu, Leicestershire (restoration and church), Hornby Castle (near Leeds; plans for rebuilding), Magdalen College, Oxford (gateway), Scarisbrick Castle, Sib- thorpe Almshouses, Lincolnshire, Tofts, near Brandon (restoration).
Much discussion has arisen concerning the claims of Pugin to the credit of ha\ing designed the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. The old Palace of West- minster had been destroyed by fire in 1834; plans for the new buildings were invited, and those of Charles Barry (afterwards Sir Charles) received the approval of the Commissioners from among some eighty-four competitors. The first stone of the new erection waa laid in 1840 and the queen formally opened the two houses in 1852. At the outset Barry called in Pugin (1836-37) to complete his half-drawn plans, and he further entrusted to him the working plans and the entire decoration (1837-52). Pugin's own statement on the subject is decisive: "Barry's great work", he said, "was immeasurably superior to any that I coiild at the time have produced, and had it been otherwise, the commissioners would have killed me in a twelve- month" (i. e., by their opposition and interference).
Literary Work. — The influence he wielded must be ascribed as much to his vigorous writings and ex- quisite designs as to any particular edifice which he erected. His "Contrasts" (1836) placed him at once ahead of the pioneers of the day. His "Glossary" (1844), so brilliant a revival in form and colour, pro- duced nothing short of a revolution in church decora- tion. Scarcely less important were his designs for "Furniture" "(1835), for "Iron and Brass Work" (1836), and for "Gold and Silver-Smiths" (1836), to which should be added his "Ancient Timber Houses of the XVth and XVIth Centuries" (1836), and his latest architectural work on "Chancel Screens and Rood Lofts" (1851). Besides the above elaborately illustrated productions, many other explanatory and apologetical writings, especially his lectures delivered at Oscott (see "Catholic Magazine", 1838, April and foil.) gave powerful expression to the message he had to deliver. As closely allied with his idea of the res- toration of constructive and decorative art, he brought out a pamphlet on the chant: "An Earnest .\ppeal for the Revival of the Ancient Plain Song" (1850). It is worthy of mention that some of his earliest drawing appears in the volumes published bv hi.s father ("Examples of Gothic Architecture", 1821, 226 plates; "Architectural Antiquities of Normandy", 182S, 80 plates; "Gothic Ornaments, England and France ', 1831, 91 plates). In knowledge of medieval archi- tecture and in his insight into its spirit and form, he stood above all his contemporaries. As a draughts- man he was without a rival. The success of his career is to be sought not so much in the buildings he erected, which, being mostly for the Catholic body, were nearly always shorn of their chief splendour by the
poverty of his patrons. He invented no new forms
of design, though he freely used the old; his instinct
led him not to Art as such, but to the Gothic embodi-
ment of Art, which seemed to him the only true form
of Christian architecture. He lacked the patience
and breadth of the truly great mind, yet he may
justly claim to rank as the architectural genius of the
century. His unquestioned merit is the restoration
of architecture in England and the revival of the forms
of medieval England, which since his day have covered
the land. Queen Victoria granted his widow a pen-
sion of £100 a year, and a committee of all parties
founded the Pugin Travelling Scholarship (controlled
by the Royal Institute of British Architects) as the
most appropriate memorial of his work and a partial
realization of the project which he had brought for-
ward in his "Apology for the Revival of Christian
Architecture in England" (1843).
GiLLOw, Bibt. Did. Eng. Cath.. s. v.; Did. Nat. Biog.. a. v.; Fehrey, Recollections of Augustus N. Welby Pugin, and his Father, Augustus P.ugin (London, 1S61), with an appendix by Pdrcell; PuRCELL, review of the above in Dublin Review (Feb., 1862) ; The GentleTuan's Magazine (Nov., 1852): Wiseman, Catholicity in England in Dublin Review (Feb., 1840) : Pugin, The Present State of Catholicity in England in Dublin Review (Feb., 1842); Amherst, The Oscotian (July, 1887), 184-87.
Henby Parkinson.
Puiseuz, Victor-Alexandre, French mathemati- cian and astronomer, b. 16 April, 1820, at Argenteuil (Seine-et-Oise) ; d. 9 September, 1883, at Frontenay (Jura). He went to school at Pont-a-Mousson (Lor- raine). His brother persuaded the family to send the boy to a boarding-school in Paris (1834). In a year's time he entered the College RoUin, where he studied mathematics under Sturm. He took the competitive examinations of the Paris lycees and, having won the prizes in mathematics and physics, he was admitted to the Ecole Normale in 1837. Three years later he was appointed associate professor in science and in 1841 received the degree of doctor in mathematical sciences and the appointment to teach at the College of Rennes. In 1845 he was called to the new University of Besangon, where he taught science until 1849. He then returned to Paris as maitre de conferences at the Ecole Normale. He substituted repeatedly both at the Sorbonne and at the College de France, lecturing for Sturm, Le Verrier, and Binet. In 1853 and 1854 he had charge of the examinations for admission to the polytechnic school. From 1855 to 1859 he was assist- ant astronomer at the Paris observatory, placed at the head of the bureau of calculation by Le Verrier. From 1857 until six months before his death Puiseux was the successor of Cauchy in the chair of celestial mechanics at the Sorbonne. He resigned, but was granted the right to keep his title. He also gave up his appointment as member of the Bureau des Longi- tudes (1868-1872), on account of failing health.
Puiseux excelled especially in mathemat ical analysis. In his account of algebraic functions, first published in the "Journal de Liouville" (1851), he introduced new methods, marking an epoch in this subject. His numerous contributions to celestial mechanics have considerably advanced knowledge in this direction. He supervised the new edition of Laplace's works, published under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences, revising all the formula^ and scrupulously verifying all his calculations in celestial mechanics. He performed a great deal of dry and laborious work him.scif, such as the reduction of the observations on the moon at Paris during the years lSOl-29, and the intricate computations and deductions from the obser- vations on the transit of Venus in 1874 and again in 1882. He had also a decided taste for botany and natural sciences in general. He was fond of philosophy and the classics.
While a student at the normal school he took part in the religious discussions of the day, displaying strong convictions and a keen intelligence. He seo»
